All in the Name of Family

Disclaimer: NCISLA characters belong to Shane Brennan. All original characters and this story are mine.

Chapter 2

Gibbs exited the elevator into his work place, frustrated and worried. He had tried all night to locate his family. Seeing Callen's reply to the photo he had sent him, had him even more worried. Callen's nemesis had found Tom and probably the whole family. For years, both Callen and himself had agreed to keep Ava and their children a secret, for their safety. Between the both of them, they had racked up quite a lot of enemies. After losing Shannon and Kelly, he wasn't going to take any chances. After the Mexican drug cartel trying to hurt anyone dear to him, he had been thankful for that decision. Then there was the news about a Romanian Crime family having a blood feud with Callen's family. Again, both men agreed they had made the right decision. But now they were in danger. It was time he told his team about them. He knew Callen was doing the same thing.

"Boss, where have you been? It's nine in the morning. We've been trying to reach you for hours." McGee saw grief flash over Gibbs's face. He furrowed his brow, wondering why his usually controlled boss looked dishevelled.

"Out searching," Gibbs replied.

"For who? We have a case boss. The family of a Lieutenant Commander Matthew Day are in the conference room. They found his body last night. The wife is in shock, the eldest told us a little. But even he's been closed lip on a lot."

Gibbs head shot up at the mention of his daughter and grandchildren. "They're here?" Hell! Why didn't he think of that. Smart kid. Gibbs thought of his eldest grandson.

"Yes," McGee replied, confused by his boss' behaviour.

"I've spent all night looking for them. Agent Callen will be arriving soon from L.A. His team will join us in a few hours as well." Leroy Jethro Gibbs saw the confusion on his agent's face. "Ava is my daughter, Tim." Tony and Abby walked up behind Gibbs as he told McGee. Surprise washed over their faces.

"Your daughter?" Abby couldn't hold her peace. "You have another daughter and didn't tell us?" She felt betrayed by her boss, who she saw as a father figure.

Gibbs turned and looked at Abby and Tony. Tony stood speechless. "I had to keep them safe, Abs."

The three of them watched their boss run up the stairs and enter the conference room. "He has grandkids." A smile appeared on Abby's face. She was never one to hold grudges long to anyone she cared for.

"Did I hear right? That Agent Callen and his team are flying in for this case?" Tony asked McGee.

"Yes, you did." The three turned and saw Agent G. Callen standing beside Tony's desk with concern over his face. "Where's Gibbs?"

"G. Callen." Abby hugged him.

Callen hugged the forensic scientist in return. They had a close bond ever since he had saved her life a few years back. "Abby Scuito."

"Gibbs is upstairs in the conference room with his daughter and grandkids," Tony replied to the agent's question.

"They're here?" Relief washed over him. They were safe.

"You too?" McGee added. Then it hit him. Tom and Bronte were Callen's children.

"Where's the conference room?" Callen asked them.

"I'll show you." McGee led Callen up the stairs.

Gibbs rushed into the conference room. The state of his daughter and grandkids shocked him. "Ava, sweetheart." He sat down beside her and turned her chair to face him. He held her hands, hoping to get through to her shocked state. He looked over and saw Tom and Bronte trying to comfort Jesse and Kelly. How much Kelly looked like his daughter Kelly at the same age, he thought. He smiled over at them, to provide some sort of comfort.

Ava looked up at her father and Gibbs finally saw recognition in her eyes. "Dad," she whispered. She crumbled into his arms and cried. Ava surprised herself at the fact that she could still cry. She hadn't cried this much in a long time. Sixteen years, to be exact, when she lost G. Those damn walls he built up to protect his heart had broken hers. It was what had led her to move on. She had two young children, and with the help from her mother, she went to work in the Navy Yard at Norfolk. Being the daughter of a marine had led her there, to be closer to her father. Her mother had supported her decision. That was how she met Matt, a Navy SEAL, who showed her the love which she craved. G had been overseas for ten months, their relationship was pretty much over. Tom and Bronte were so young, they needed a father figure in their lives. But now she mourned over the loss of him. The man who had healed her broken heart from G.

There was a knock on the door. Gibbs looked over and saw his friend appear in the room.

"Dad!" Tom and Bronte greeted their father. Bronte hugged him with such force, she nearly bowled him over.

"Hey!" He studied them and then saw Ava, crying in her father's arms. "Are you all okay?" he asked them. He had spent the entire five hour flight worrying about them.

"We're unharme, Dad. Safe now. But someone follow us from the house." Tom looked from his father to his grandfather. "That's why we couldn't meet you at your place. I had trouble shaking them, but I eventually managed to somehow, and we found ourselves near here."

Gibbs and Callen were proud of Tom. He had taken charge when Ava went into shock. The decisions he had made, had kept them safe. "That was the best move you made. I just wished I knew where your were," Gibbs told him.

"Both of our cells had gone flat. We couldn't find a charger in the car. It must have been removed," Tom stated.

"You're safe here now, that's all that matters," Callen told him. He moved closer, but hesitated. The last time he had spoken to Ava on the phone, they had argued. She couldn't understand why he had told her it hadn't been safe for them to fly to L.A. The truth was, the fear of Janvier finding out about them, had led to Callen to keeping his distance from his own children. He had missed Tom's graduation and he knew Ava was still furious with him over it. But now it pained him to see her suffer like this. It was his fault that Matt was dead. The guilt laid heavily on his shoulders. He was determined to make amends and right his wrong.

There were so many reasons why he had wished they had never rescued Janvier from the Iranians. But the decisions had been made from fear of a greater risk, of two nuclear bombs being in the hands of their enemies, therefore it had all been out of his hands. He hated the fact that Deeks had to watch Sam's back. He blamed himself for not checking Janvier thoroughly before meeting up with Isaak Sidorov. The betrayal of the French arms dealer haunted his dreams every night. Now his nightmare had returned and threatened the lives of his children, their half brother and sister and their mother. The woman he had never gotten over. He knew it was his fault that he had pushed her away. Now it was his fault that her husband was dead. He braced for Ava's anger toward him.

Ava sat up. She noticed her father had pulled slightly away from her. As she turned, she saw him standing there, hesitant. It was unusual to see him so unsure of himself, but there he was, doubting if he should move closer to her or not. She turned to her father. "You called G?"

Gibbs nodded. "I didn't know where you were. I needed him here to help me find you. To keep you safe." Gibbs sighed. He could see the clogs in his daughter's brain turn over.

"But we came to your work. I thought this was where..." She paused. Her brain was fuzzy. Ava tried hard to think back to the house. She remembered seeing Matt's lifeless body staring back at her and her father's voice, telling her not to go into the house. "What happened?" She swallowed the bile that had risen in her throat from the horror that she remembered.

"You were suppose to meet me at my house." Ava looked at her father with a frown. "You were being followed." She turned to Tom. She remembered and nodded. As she looked up at Callen, she saw guilt cross over his face, ever so briefly. But why? Then she realised. Callen and her father knew who was in the picture that Tom had taken.

"Who is he?" She asked Callen, not wavering her stare into his blue eyes. She wanted answers, and by damn she was going to get them.

Callen saw the determination return into Ava's eyes. He knew he needed to be honest with her, no matter what the consequences were. "He's a French arms dealer, whose out to destroy everyone that matters to me." He licked his lips that were still dry from the flight, but also from nerves. Why did Ava have such an effect on him? A question he had asked himself over the past twenty years, yet still didn't have an answer. The hardest thing he'd ever had to do, was let her go. She deserved more than he could ever give. He had let her find happiness and now it was his fault she had lost the man who had given her what he couldn't. "I'm so sorry, Ava."

"G!" Ava shook her head. "Don't." She couldn't deal with his apology right then. She stood up. She needed to get out of this room, from him. She swayed.

Gibbs caught her. "Are you sure you're okay, Av?" His words were gentle, like a late summer's night breeze. Gentle and warm.

"I just need to go to the bathroom and freshen up." Her determination returned, as she walked past Callen, without looking back. It took all of her strength to go past him. Part of her wanted to punch him hard, for letting this mess happened to them. It was his fault that Matt was dead. The other part of her wanted, no, needed him to comfort her. She pulled herself into the corner of the ladies bathroom and curled into a ball. She rested her head on her knees and wrapped her arms around her legs. Tears began pouring down her cheeks again. She quickly wiped them away. She heard the door open, but she chose to ignore the intruder. She needed to be alone.

Callen stood by the basins, as he watched Ava curled up in the corner of the bathroom. He was torn, on whether to stay where he was or to move closer. He didn't deserve to have her anymore in his life, he was just thankful that she allowed him to still have contact with their children. But seeing Ava suffer like this, pulled at his heart strings. All he wanted was for her to be happy. He knew he couldn't give that to her, he had no choice but to let her go. Although it had broken his heart to see her happy with Matt, he knew it had to be that way.

"He's the reason why you couldn't come to L..A., and why I couldn't come to Tom's graduation. I needed to keep you all safe." He found the strength to move closer and he sat near her on the floor. "I have no idea how he found about any of you. This was not supposed to happen, Ava. I thought I had kept you all safe." He gently placed his hand on her arm, to comfort her.

Ava shrugged his hand away. She couldn't deal with his apology. It was his fault Matt was dead. "Leave me alone, G." She forced the words out of her mouth. "Just kill the bastard and leave me alone." Her body shook from all the emotions that rippled through her body. "Seeing you are so good at doing that."

Her last words stung. But he knew she had every right to say them. He deserved them. He placed the blame on himself for all that had happened to her. "No, Ava. I'm not leaving you this time." No matter what guilt he felt, he needed to be there for her now. She deserved that much.

"Why? Why now?" Ava turned and looked him straight into his eyes. They shared the same blue eyes. She had inherited hers from her father, it was no surprise that Tom and Bronte had inherited them as well. But they had inherited his blond hair. It wasn't hard to know they were his children. They were his kids, through and through. She thought on that, as she waited for Callen to respond.

"Because I have let you down again," Callen admitted. "It's my fault that Matt's dead, and your lives have been threatened. I can't let anything happen to you, Av. When Gibbs rang to tell me what happened, and that you didn't show up at his house —- I thought I had lost you. All of you." Tears welled up in Callen's eyes.

Ava frowned. She hadn't seen this side of him in a really long time. Usually, he was always good at hiding his emotions. Something had changed in Callen, she realised. "G!" She shook her head. She needed to clear it. She couldn't deal with him getting all emotional on her. Not now. Not after all that he had put her through. She stood to leave. Callen grabbed her by the arms and pulled her closer to him. "Let me go, G." She demanded. She tried hard to be strong in front of him.

"Please forgive me, Av. I never meant to hurt you."

She studied his eyes. She could see the worry in them. But that wasn't what shook her. It was the fear she saw in them and the fact he was still in love with her.

"Damn you, G. You can't just push me away and all these years later think you can have me back. I'm not a toy. You broke my heart when you built those stupid walls around your heart. I don't know what's happened to you, for you to have them crashed down around you now, like this. But my husband is dead. And it's all your fault." Ava pushed herself away and locked herself in a cubicle. "Go away, G. Find this man so we can go home. Then you can return to your blissful life back in L.A."

Her whole body shook. It broke her to treat him like this, but she needed to. She couldn't face him being so loving towards her. Her husband was dead, she needed to mourn over him and focus on rebuilding their lives without the man who had healed her broken heart.